“Betty,” the brunette said. “How old are you?”
“What?” Betty asked. “What kind of question is that?”
“Answer the question, Betty,” the brunette pushed. “How old are you?”
The line went silent.
I was confused, but the brunette only shook her head sadly and hung up the phone.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“They’ve gotten to her,” the brunette said. “I’m sorry.”
“What do you mean they’ve gotten to her?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”
Glen was suddenly at the door.
“Did I just hear you correctly, Trixie?” Glen asked.
“Yes,” the brunette answered.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Your friend is no longer your friend,” Glen explained. “The vampires have gotten to her. She’s under their control now.”
“I see,” I said. “Or perhaps my friend is only hungover. Have you thought about that?"
“Does your friend drink a lot or do drugs?” Trixie asked.
“Of course she does,” I answered. “What teenager doesn’t?”
Trixie shrugged her shoulders, and Glen nodded. I had no idea what signals they were trading, but I was pretty sure none of it would benefit me, so I left the room.
Someone had brought bags of fast food a few hours later after I was good and awake. I’m not a big fast food eater, but something told me that the vampire hunters were. I sat at the table as everyone rushed in and grabbed wildly at the food. I somehow managed to snag a cheeseburger and a soda for myself.
Everyone ate in silence.
Some of the vampire hunters seemed to be barely awake as they poured coffee by the gallon, and munched on French fries.
“What will we be doing tonight?” Dad asked.
“The same thing,” Glen answered. “We’re still hoping to be attacked. If that happens, things will be so much easier. In all honesty, your daughter has given us nothing to go on. At this point, I really don’t know how to help her in the long run.”
“I understand,” dad said.
“There’s no solid plan here,” Glen explained further. “I’m playing this by ear. It won’t be easy to kill a master vampire, but if we can manage to do just that, the danger is over for your family.”
“Plan B is to leave the country and hope he doesn’t follow,” I said.
“That’s right,” Glen agreed. “I’m sorry I don’t have more for you, but this is the best I can do under the circumstances.”
There was a knock on the door, and that wasn’t a big deal because the sun was still high in the sky and shining brightly. Trixie went to answer the door, and everyone started talking at once. They all had an idea, and they all wanted to be heard.
BOOM!
CLICK-CLACK.
BOOM!
CLICK-CLACK.
BOOM!
It happened so quickly nobody knew what to do. The vampire hunters had dealt with vampire attacks before, but none of them had ever been attacked by a regular human being with a shotgun.
Trixie lay dead on the floor. Her face had been blown away. The muscular vampire hunter with all the tattoos was bleeding out next to her.
Somebody screamed, maybe it was me, and another gunshot rang out.
The vampire hunters all ran for cover, but I was frozen to my chair. I recognized the man shooting the shotgun.
Bob.
The human being that watched over Derry’s home during the daylight hours, but Bob didn’t look anything like he did the last time I’d seen him. For starters, Bob seemed to have lost a good thirty to forty pounds, and his skin looked grey and loose on his frame. He was also covered in bruises and lacerations that needed medical attention.
“The young masters are very angry,” Bob said as he looked me in the eyes. “They won’t stand for this sort of behavior at all.”
“I didn’t do anything!” I screamed. “They forced me to come here!”
Bob slowly raised the shotgun, and Glen tackled him from behind. The two of them struggled only briefly before two of the remaining vampire hunters joined him in restraining the man.
The second the shooting had stopped, my father was ushering both Tyler and me into one of the back bedrooms.
“I don’t want you out there,” Dad said. “It’s too dangerous, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ll call back my bodyguards, but that’ll take some time.”
Tyler started crying.
“Dad,” I said. “We can’t stay hidden forever.”
“Just wait here,” Dad said as he closed the door behind him.
Tyler looked at me.
“What just happened?” Tyler asked.
I pulled my little brother close to me and wrapped both of my arms around his shoulders. I could smell his clean hair under my nose, and the scent was a welcome one.
“I’ve got you,” I said in a calming voice. “It’s all okay. None of that was about you. None of that concerns you.”
“He was shooting a gun!” Tyler cried.
I looked out the window and saw a calm street in the late afternoon sun. It didn’t seem real after what had just happened. I closed my eyes and shook my head to clear my thoughts.
Opening the door, I could still hear everyone shouting, but above all, I could hear Bob still ranting and raving.
“The littlest master will be so angry!” Bob cried. “I can’t imagine what he’s going to do!”
I turned back to Tyler, who was still crying softly on the bed, after that I looked back outside the window.
“You’re safe here,” I said. “Nothing can hurt you, and I’m going to make sure things stay that way, but I need you to be brave for me. Can you do that?”
Tyler shook his head in the affirmative. I climbed out the window and into the driver’s seat of the last car in the driveway. I already had the keys in my hand. I grabbed them almost as soon as I entered the house. I had just been waiting. Waiting for what I couldn’t tell you. Maybe I was just waiting for a good opportunity.
I drove away slowly so as not to raise any alarms. When I was three streets away, I hit the gas and drove like crazy. The vampire hunters and my father would be after me as soon as they realized I was gone…or would they? Perhaps it was too late to chase after me. Perhaps they were too worried about what would happen to them if they stayed out after dark.
Another ten minutes of driving, and I had a sudden realization. I had no idea where I was going. I was free. I had escaped but lacked an essential plan. I had run away blindly without a clue as to where I should go.
Unfortunately, I could think of only one place in which Derry could find me, my home. However, my father and the vampire hunters were sure to look there. What if they found me before Derry found me?
I didn’t have a choice.
The vampire hunters acted as if Derry had abilities that were unknown to me. They thought he could find me no matter where they took me, but I didn’t believe that. I didn’t believe most of what they told me.
What about Betty and Jake?
Betty and Jake were fine. The vampire hunters thought all my friends were dead, but Betty proved that wasn’t true when she answered her phone. So what did the vampire hunters do? They changed the narrative. Betty was no longer dead; she was now under the control of the vampires.
It was all too convenient. For all I knew, the vampire hunters were only after Derry and his brothers because they were different, and sometimes being different can get you killed.
I had no choice. I needed Derry to find me, and I had to go home to be sure he could do just that.
I arrived at my house only fifteen minutes or so before sunset. There were more stray cats in the yard, and I took that as a hopeful sign. Derry would come for me. Derry had to come for me. If he didn’t, if I somehow lost him, what would I do?
What could I do?
I didn’t want to think about any of that. I only wanted to fe
el his cold body pressed against mine. How I loved the coolness that radiated from him. He was a balm on a hot summer night.
The house was cold inside. Nobody had turned off the air conditioning. That was good. The outside temperature was only just beginning to cool.
I walked calmly through the shadows of my home. I looked at the pictures of my family, knowing that if Derry arrived, I might never see them again.
I’d miss my little brother.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about my father.
The house creaked, and I startled excitedly, but excitement deteriorated to disappointment rapidly. I was alone in the house. Only my thoughts were there to keep me company.
I turned a few lights on, and I went outside to sit by the pool to watch the sun descend below the horizon. I felt comfortable in the darkness, and I was soon swimming in the pool.
I spent only twenty minutes or so in the water. I was too excited to focus on any one thing for too long, and I climbed out and dried off while looking up at the few stars I could see in the bright sky.
More cats had arrived.
I watched them fight, chase, and play with each other around the backyard for a bit before heading inside and upstairs to my bedroom.
I was passing the kitchen when I heard the vehicle pulling into my driveway. Quickly I rushed upstairs into Tyler’s bedroom and looked out his window. I knew the black van, and I knew the people cautiously exiting.
The vampire hunters had arrived.
It was all over.
I was going to lose Derry. These people were going to hide me from him in the hopes that he’d come looking for me, but that wasn’t going to happen. I was simply going to disappear, never to be seen by him again.
With nothing but despair in my heart, I made my way to my bedroom and tossed a big t-shirt over my bikini. I had time to grab a few more essentials, but not many. The vampire hunters were going to want to leave as quickly as possible. I grabbed a small bag from my closet, turned around, and screamed.
Derry was floating outside my window.
The two of us looked at each other for a moment, and I slowly smiled from ear to ear. Derry couldn’t return my smile, but I could see the joy and excitement in his eyes upon finding me. He tapped at the window latch with his long claws, and I rushed to open it for him.
Meanwhile, the front door of my house slammed violently inward after being kicked open by a heavy foot. Immediately I heard the vampire hunters screaming and calling out my name as they rushed inside.
Of course, Derry heard all of this commotion, but he didn’t react. He only floated outside my window with his lips quivering in excitement as he tapped at the latch.
My bedroom door burst open, and Felony, Glen, and my father rushed into the room. The three of them froze instantly when they saw what was hovering outside my window, and that’s when my world went completely off the rails.
The thick glass of my window burst forward into my bedroom in an explosion of rage and violence. I ducked my head low as shards of glass blew across the room.
After that, a storm raged its way into my bedroom. The fierce winds blew the knickknacks off my shelves and the sheets off my bed. I ducked even farther when this happened, but I could hear the shouts of fear.
And then it was over.
Or was it?
The winds had died down, but there was a heaviness in the air that coated everything like a wet blanket of dread.
Derry had entered my bedroom.
He was standing there before the broken window with a mouthful of fangs and terror. His black eyes weren’t reflecting any light in the brightness of my room, but that didn’t make him any less frightening.
Felony rushed towards me as if she were going to rip me away from danger.
“MINE!” Derry shouted in a demonic voice that chilled my blood.
I hunkered low and shielded my ears, but Felony didn’t even slow down. In fact, she had almost reached me when Derry swung a clawed hand towards her face.
A shower of blood wet my cheeks and teeth, tissue, and Felony’s bottom jaw splattered against the far wall in a cascade of blood.
I would have screamed, but I didn’t have time. Before I could absorb anything, before I could make any sense out of what was happening, Derry had me in his grip, and then I was flying out the window and into the open air.
I didn’t fall.
I looked back towards my shattered window, and Derry was still inside my bedroom, but I wasn’t falling.
I heard a child-like laughter all around me, and my vision began to get clouded with mist and fog. I blinked rapidly as I was lifted higher and higher, but the dark mist was all that I could see.
Rough and cold hands gripped me tightly, and when I was high enough, they tossed me back and forth until I screamed.
What was happening?
I couldn’t understand.
I couldn’t even focus under the continuous onslaught, and through it all, I kept hearing that childish laughter. My tormentors were enjoying themselves at my expense.
“Stop!” Derry’s voice ordered.
Firm arms wrapped around my waist, and I began to rapidly descend through the fog. When the air had cleared, I looked out onto the city far below me, and I was safe and sound in my lover’s arms.
“I didn’t know if you’d come,” I cried. “I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again.”
“I have you now,” Derry said as he pulled me close. “You’re safe. I’ll never let them take you from me again.”
I held him in my arms as tightly as I possibly could. He was mine. He was all mine, and neither the vampire hunters nor my father were going to be able to separate us again.
I was frightened. A lot of things had happened that I never wanted to see or experience, but I was also hopeful. I had my entire future ahead of me, and I was going to be able to enjoy that future with the love of my life.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Derry declined to answer, but I found out only a few minutes later when the two of us landed in the near-empty parking lot of a motel.
“What are we doing here?” I asked.
“This place is safe,” Derry answered. “My brothers are already here.”
“We’re staying at a motel?” I asked.
“Tomorrow evening, I’ll find us a new home,” Derry said. “In the meantime, this will be a safe place for you.”
I looked around once more.
“Are there other people here?” I asked.
“Yes,” Derry answered, “but don’t be concerned about that.”
“What exactly should I be concerned about?” I asked.
Derry only took my hand and led me to one of the many rooms in the half-square shaped building. The room was dark, with only the light of the moon and the parking lot lights providing any illumination. I appreciated the air-conditioning in the room. Most motels have the best air conditioning, but I had questions that couldn’t wait.
“Shouldn’t we leave town?” I asked.
“Why?” Derry asked in return.
“There are people hunting us,” I said. “Wouldn’t it be better if we left the area?”
“That sounds boring,” Derry said.
“It sounds safe,” I said.
Derry reached out his arm towards me, and I closed the distance to feel his embrace. I felt him sniffing my hair and neck, but I wasn’t worried. I knew Derry wouldn’t hurt me, and I only held him tighter.
“I don’t want you to worry about your safety anymore,” Derry said. “Leave all of that to me. Your safety is my business.”
“It just sounds like you're looking for trouble,” I said.
Laughter.
The laughter of a child.
Derry and I weren’t alone in the dark room.
I looked around. There, next to the television, sitting in a chair by the table, was the shadowy outline of a young man. I couldn’t make out any details, and the figure was frozen solid, but I startled anyway.
More laughter.
I found the next brother sitting in the corner of the room with his legs pulled up under his chin. He was looking in my direction, and his black eyes were reflecting like a cat, but other than that, he was also unmoving.
“These are my brothers,” Derry said. “Sitting over there in the chair is Lorcan, and the smaller one in the corner is Ciaran, my youngest brother.”
“Hello Ciaran and Lorcan,” I said.
No reply came my way.
The shadowy figures remained still.
“Derry told me that the two of you enjoy video games,” I volunteered. “My little brother, Tyler, also likes to play. What are your favorites?”
No answer.
“Would it be okay if I turned on a light?” I asked.
Whispering.
I couldn’t see their mouths moving, but I could hear and feel the disturbance in air right at the edge of my hearing. The three brothers were speaking rapidly, but I couldn’t make out a single word due to the low volume of their voices.
Finally, the whispering stopped, and Derry looked my way.
“Lorcan is worried about their appearance,” Derry explained. “He thinks you might be frightened.”
“Did you explain to them that I’ve already seen you in the light?” I asked.
More whispering.
“Okay,” Derry said when they’d all grown quiet once more.
I watched the figure of Ciaran hop up, cross the room, and flip the light switch. I was frightened by what I saw.
Both of the brothers shared Derry’s corpse-like complexion. The three of them were indeed beautiful dead boys, and just like their oldest brother, the blood pooled behind their eyes in malevolent shadows.
I saw this, and I saw their bruised and puffy lips, and I truly wondered how any of them could pass for human. If it wasn’t for their beauty in life, each of them looked as if they’d feel right at home in a horror movie. In other words, their natural beauty fought directly against their vampire appearance.
Lorcan was the fairest of the three. He was wearing a light blue hoodie and jeans, and when he stood, he was only an inch or so shorter than Derry. His auburn hair was cut short and simple, and unlike his brothers, Lorcan lips naturally formed the beginnings of a smile, creating a sort of gentleness to his appearance.
The Forgotten: A Vampire Story Page 15
